Community Demi
by EllaIncarnate
Summary: The Roman and Greek camps can't be the only groupings of demigods. Sarah wakes up in a bunk that looks like a giant nest. She is in Community Demi, in a Mexican jungle, and things are interesting. PLZ! i beg you, R'n'R! long chapters long time between
1. In The Nest

In The Nest

Sarah Encanter woke up in what appeared to be a nest of blankets. Her head was pounding. Reaching up Sarah felt a bandage. It's probably best to leave it on for now, she surmised. Slowly, gently, she looked around her. Sarah seemed to be outside, surrounded by short shade trees. She was just under the tops of the trees. Sarah lay back and thought. Very hard. The last thing she could remember was that she had been at school—which was a good school and a good fit for Sarah- when a police officer had walked into class. It was the sheriff. Recently, there had been a kidnapping and he had been on TV a lot. Sarah's class had watched him in social studies. The sheriff addressed the class, told them that sources had tipped him off and that someone here was a drug dealer. The man sounded like the sheriff, but his face seemed wrong, somehow. On TV, the sheriff had looked small and stocky, the man in front of the class was well above six feet tall. Strangely, when the sheriff stared down each of them in turn, it was as if he were looking at a case of steaks at a deli. He took a deep breath. He walked down the center of the class. All eyes followed him. He kept breathing slowly, like he would hyperventilate if he wasn't careful. He stopped when he was next to Sarah. With one last deep inhale, the sheriff looked down at Sarah menacingly.

"So. So you are the one who's been causing all the fuss," he winced, as if the "fuss" had been painful. "Good thing all my hard work will be worth it." The sheriff made ready to use his weird policeman-stick.

"Sheriff," Ms. Krendal said in her discipline voice. "This school has a very strict no-violence policy. I would hate to see our rules broken by a police officer." The sheriff walked back over to her. Smack! The sheriff had slapped her across the face, hard enough to knock her both out of her chair, and unconscious. He turned, ran back to Sarah, and raised his club. Voices sounded in the hall.

"Hurry! I think the monster's in there!"

"Coming. Do you think she'll be alright?"

"Only if we get in there fast!" back in the classroom, the sheriff growled. An un-humanly feral sound. Sarah looked at him, startled. What she saw made her heart miss a beat. He only had one eye! And not just like one of two eyes had been poked out, but there was only one eye socket, in the center of his forehead. The thing that had pretended to be the sheriff growled again and his stick came smashing down on Sarah's head. She had blanked out. And now she was here. Wherever here was. _I should see if there is a ladder_, she thought, assuming that she was in a top bunk. Sarah rolled onto her stomach and army-crawled to the edge of her nest. She stuck her head over the edge. And immediately rolled back onto her back, nauseous with vertigo. When she had first opened her eyes, Sarah had looked at her surroundings and immediately thought nest. Now she knew how true it was. The "nest" was about seventy feet in the air. And with a last thought of _ohmygosh_, Sarah fainted.

Sarah awoke and kept her eyes closed against the bright sunlight of high noon. There were people moving around the nest. By Sarah's reckoning, two or three. They were speaking softly. The people approached Sarah. A low female voice told the other person:

"Just keep rubbing. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to keep her attention on it." Sarah felt the other person grasp her hand and start rubbing her forearm. At the same time, the girl who had spoken began unwrapping the bandages around Sarah's head. She felt it as the girl unwrapping her bandage came to the last circle.

"Rub harder!" the girl murmured intensely. Sarah's arm got hotter as the rubbing sped up. The person pulling the bandage came to the edge of Sarah's scab. She winced, but managed to keep her eyes closed. The bandage-puller was muttering under her breath. Sarah could barely make out the words. Something about spreading or deflecting pain to ease her suffering. Wait a minute, Sarah told herself. Those words weren't in English or Spanish. How did I know what they meant? Then her thoughts were cut off by something descending on her like a cloud of mosquitos. She was under mental attack! With sheer force of will, Sarah fended off the cloud. Unbeknownst to her, the "attack" was a spell meant to make it so that Sarah wouldn't wake up when the healer ripped the bandage off of her wound. Because Sarah had defended against the spell, however, she felt the pain is full. She could not help it. Sarah screamed. When she was done screaming, she started cursing. When she was done cursing, Sarah sat curled up in a ball, glaring at what turned out to be two girls. The girl on the right sat staring at her in awe, the dirty bandage dangling from her hands. She wore jean capris, the belt of which was covered in leather pouches holding tiny vials of powder and liquid, rolls of bandages, and a box of band aids with pictures from the Disney movie Hurcules on them. She also wore a loose linen shirt tucked into her pants. Her hair was a sun-bleached light brown, pulled into a low bun. Sarah could tell that she was a healer because just looking at her made Sarah relax. The second person was also a girl, and gave off the strong aura of a leader, telling Sarah that in this girl's presence, hard work would be appreciated, but laziness would be severely punished. The girl on the left was wearing boot cut Wranglers and a Farm Girl shirt that had a picture of chicken wire across the front. Her skin was slightly- well, not Asian, but something close- and she had a strong farmers tan. The farmer recovered her composure first:

"Hello. Glad to see you're back in the world of the living and scaring us witless again," she grumbled.

"And I think your mouth needs to be cleaned just as much as your head." This girl was seemed very opinionated.

"Don't be rude, Karen," the other girl chided. "That obviously hurt her a lot." She was looking puzzled and thoughtful.

"That pain relief spell should have been enough to keep a gorilla from knowing he'd been beheaded."

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"That wasn't a pain relief spell," she told them."It was a pain deflecting spell. It would have made my whole body ache instead of there being any sharp pain." The girls gaped at her.

"H-how did you know that?" the healer asked Sarah.

"Well, duh! I listened to what you said."

"But I said that in the Ancient Tone!"

"Whatever." Sarah rolled her eyes again.

"We can think about that later. Though it might be a clue as to your parentage," the farm girl obviously thought that the healer was overreacting. "Anyway, I'm Karen Maise. And this is Erica Peace."

Erica swung a leather band from her shoulder and took off a wooden cup, a leather water bottle, and a flask of something that looked remarkably like apple juice. She poured water into the cup and used a dropper to add six carefully measured drops of the gold-colored liquid. Searching, Erica pulled a few strips of bark out of a belt compartment and used them to stir the solution in the cup.

"Drink this,"Erica told Sarah, holding the cup out to her. "It will help with pain and make it easier for me to clean your head." Reluctantly, Sarah drank. It was an odd experience, slightly like the one time Sarah's school teacher had brought a glass of wine to class and let everyone have just enough to show them that it was bad, only without the burn as it goes down. Sarah felt an intense itch on her head right after she swallowed.

"What the heck was that?"she said rather loudly. Karen frowned slightly and Erica looked Sarah directly in the eye: "That," Erica told her with a freakishly intense calm. "was a mixture of water, nectar, and willow bark." Erica held up the strips of bark.

"What's nectar? Some kind of dope?"

"No. It is the drink of the gods."

"Gods. Multiple. Are you some kind of crazy Egyptian doctor?" Sarah was getting confused, but she felt that she had to keep Erica off her guard. Erica just sighed, her brows knitting a bit.

"You don't have to keep attacking my mind. And, no, I am not an Egyptian doctor. I am a Greek healer, Erica Peace, daughter of Apollo. Sarah, I know that this will seem insane, but the Greek gods are real. And just like in old times, they have a lot of affairs with mortals, which is where we come in. We- you, me, and Karen- are all half-god children that come from these affairs. And we inherit certain abilities from our godly parents. Apollo is the god of poetry, music, prophecy, archery, and medicine. And I, in my turn, prefer, if I have to use a weapon, to shoot a bow from afar, composing poetry is a side hobby of mine as well, and there's my ability to heal. Speaking of which, I need to get to work on that owie on your head. Don't try to stay away from me. If you haven't noticed, we are seventy-five feet in the air. Now just lay down, and I'll get moving." Erica pulled a sponge from one of her pouches and poured the remainder of the nectar-water onto it. She continued explaining:

"Karen is a daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture. She grew up on a small farm in Idaho. Her powers woke up at around ten, very early for most demigods, but the folks here didn't find her for a year or so because there were so many nature spirits around the farm. They could hardly pin-point her power at the age of twelve. Karen has the power to grow most any plant most anywhere." Erica tied off the clean bandage on Sarah's forehead. "There you go. All set. Does it feel better now?"

"Kind of. But how do you know that I am a half-god?" In answer, Erica whistled. There was a rustling in one of the trees around them. Then much to the surprise of Sarah, the indifference of Erica, and the annoyance of Karen, something came flying through the air towards them. It was yodeling like Tarzan. It landed with a thump.

"You whistled, Miz Peace?" said the cheerful voice of the strangest(and least terrifying) creature Sarah had ever seen. From the waist up, it was a boy, about ten, with very dark skin. From the waist down, however, he was a goat- brown with white spots, and from the hock down, black.

"Wha-wha-wuh," Sarah stammered. "You're a goat. There is a goat with a face in front of me!" She went into a slight mental shock.

"Aha! Newbie, eh, Erica?" the half goat winked at Sarah. "Don't worry, missy. You'll get used to me. Though I suppose I should wear pants next time we meet! Nya-he-he-nmmmm!"

"I can not believe how untactful you are, Jeremy!" huffed Karen. "Can't you keep your mouth shut for five minutes?"

"Settle down, everyone. Sarah, this is Jeremy," Jeremy bowed. "And his nose is how we found you. Jeremy is a faun, or a satyr. Either one works. He can smell both monsters and demigods." Jeremy wrinkled his nose.

"Speaking of that, do you guys mind staying away from each other. I can hardly handle it when Karen and Erica are together. With all three of you smelly ladies together, it's just nnna-ah-asty." Karen muttered something under her breath. It probably wasn't rated G. Then, for some reason, a twig from the side of the nest-bed had a growth spurt, wrapping branches around Jeremy's mouth. It became apparent to Sarah that Karen had made that happen. Sarah couldn't help mentally giving Karen a pat on the back for silencing the talkative goat-boy. Karen smirked.

"Well, see you later. Gotta go back to my own tree now. It's almost time for Advanced Agility." Karen smirked, waved her hand at a plant clinging to the side of the tree, grabbed the vine that had just grown out of it, and swung out of sight.

The branches curled away from Jeremy and back into the twig that they came from. Erica sighed.

"I have to get going soon as well," Erica said heavily. "I'm scheduled to take the U-10's from the Apollo tree on a scavenger hunt to restock the apothecary. I'll get someone to show you around. Jeremy-". But Jeremy, apparently fed up with "smelly ladies," had ran off.

When Sarah woke again, it was late afternoon. She kept her eyes closed for a moment, remembering the conversation from earlier. Organizing her mind, filing the information she now knew, Sarah took several deep breaths. Let's see... Greek mythology: gods: Hades(Pluto in Rome), Zues(Jupiter), Posiedon(Neptune), Hermes(Roman equivalent unknown), Hera(Juno), Apollo, Ares(Mars), Demeter, Aphrodite(Venus), Artemis(Diana), and countless minor gods. Demigods: me, Erica, Karen: abilities from our godly parents(i.e. Erica: healing, Karen: vine, tree from twig). Jeremy: faun/satyr: half goat, ability: smell demigods.

Sarah had always been able to do this, to take large amounts of information and turn them into neat and tidy files in her brain. But now, a deep male voice intercepted her work:

"I know that your awake. And your frown looks a bit silly with your eyes closed."

She promptly opened her eyes. Lounging in front of her, the boy was, in a motion, every girl's jaw sitting on the floor. Although his dreamy golden hair was little more than a buzz cut, the curls in it were distinctive. With his skin tone, he was definitely Mediterranean, and he didn't mind to show it, as all he was wearing were loose jeans, cut off above the knees. At his waist, he wore a belt made of about two dozen strands of leather, knotted and braided in a way so that you could pull some of it out to attach things to it. He had several knife sheaths on both sides and one long scabbard that suggested a sword on his left hip. Most of them were empty.

"Hey. Karen told me you were a piece of work. I'm Daniel Gosman. Your Sarah Encanter, right? Erica sent me to show you around if you're up to it."

"Ummmm... sure?" Sarah was momentarily inarticulate.

"Before we go, you might want to eat something. I sneaked a bit of ambrosia out of the mess tree, just in case. Want some?" Daniel had now burrowed into his jeans pocket and come up with an abused looking Ziploc bag containing an even more abused looking blond brownie. Without an answer, he pried part of it out of the bag and tossed the brownie in a lob at Sarah. She unconsciously tilted her head and opened her mouth to catch it. Daniel gave a little chuckle with his eyebrows up.

"Sorry, you didn't expect that. But I have my ways of judging people, and you just passed with flying colors."

"I see. And what does your rubric look like?" Sarah recovered just enough to banter a bit with this boy. He had an aura of power that was astonishing, but Sarah felt that it put them on more even ground somehow.

"At the bottom is probably a flailing lunge at it that results in a big splat down there," Daniel pointed down the side of the nest."Just watching it fall would most likely be next. If you caught it with your hand, you would have passed, but I have seen very few people catch it in their mouths. Though, Maise grew a branch out of the tree we were next to to grab it. The day she came to camp was a very interesting day for all of us. Karen had things growing all over the place!"

Sarah swallowed the last of the flying food, and shuddered as a fiery warmth spread, itching around her forehead, from her toes to her scalp. The sensation was somewhat like the one she had gotten from the liquid Erica had given her, but multiplied by at least five. Sarah remembered that the nectar had been diluted with water. She gave a pleading look to Daniel. Mutely, he handed over another part of the baked goods. The taste was oddly of chocolate, despite the color, with just the right hints of butterscotch and mint. Still chewing, Sarah's forehead creased, and she spoke, muffled by the food in her mouth:

"So what, exactly, is this stuff that I'm eating?"

"It's delicious isn't it? It tastes like whatever you think tastes best. It's called ambrosia, the food of the gods. As half-gods, you can eat some of it, but if a regular mortal eats it, they basically spontaneously combust. You are half-human, too, so you can't eat all that much of it without the same thing happening to you. It also speeds healing tons, so your head should be fine in under a week, when normally that would take at least a month to heal."

"Wait a moment," Sarah had caught onto a small detail that needed explanation."You spoke of demigods in the third person. Are you not one? And if you aren't a demigod why did you have ambrosia in your pocket? Wouldn't it kill you?"

"Ah, well, that's kind of complicated. It'll take a while to explain," Daniel suddenly looked nervous.

"I'm not exactly going anywhere any time soon," Sarah was determined to get an explanation. She crossed her arms and pouted at him. He sighed.

"Okay, then. I don't suppose you know about how Ares and Aphrodite have had a thing for the last few thousand years, do you? Well, Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus, but he's kind of ugly. That's what got him thrown off of Olympus. So, Aphrodite and Ares got together and there was a big to-do about it a long time ago, and as history repeats itself, that has happened a couple of times. And obviously, Ares likes Aphrodite's type. So, my mom was a demigod, daughter of Aphrodite. Neither she, or anyone else knew it, though, because she didn't have much power. And she caught the eye of Ares. I was the result. It happens all the time, that's how most of us got here, but I am the only one I know of who is three-quarters god. I could actually eat more ambrosia than you without disintegrating, but I try to save it for emergencies." Sarah blinked.

"Um, okay. Thanks. So, now can you explain about where exactly I am, what I'm doing here, and everything else that I don't know about what has happened in the last few days?"

Daniel smiled timidly. Sarah liked his smile. It made you want to take care of him, be friends with him, and let him take care of you, all at once.

"You seem a bit too calm about all this. What's up?"

"I don't really know. I guess it all just fits with what I know about myself and all the weird things I have seen that don't fit into what other people, mortals, told me," Sarah frowned. "I've always seen creepy things, like cheerleaders with flaming hair and fangs at away basketball games, and once, I saw a seal on a beach that had the head of a Rottweiler. Now that a probable solution for those things has been given, I keep remembering more and more freaky occurrences, and it all just works."

_Hmmm... I need some real food. And maybe some aspirin, for my head_, Sarah thought. The area around her head wound was starting to pound. _Nice as it is to get this all straight, Daniel said he was going to show me where I am. I need to see what's around_. Out loud, she said:

"Daniel? Can we get going now? I'm really hungry, and my head hurts, and I want to see where on Earth I am." Daniel nodded, reached an arm down, and pulled a rope from a hidden compartment in the side of the nest. Daniel winked, shouted: "Look out below!" and tossed it down. The rope was longer than it seemed. Cautiously, Sarah peered down, over the edge, and saw an amazing sight. Below her by about twenty feet, was another platform, though it looked more like a boardwalk, circling the tree. There were a number of people on the walkway, talking and laughing like it was perfectly normal to live fifty feet up a tree. If she looked closely, Sarah could see houses in all the nearby trees, as well as a series of rope bridges, zip lines, and walkways, such as the one directly below her, connecting everything together.

"Encanter? You all right?" Daniel's concerned voice betrayed a sense of smug satisfaction at her reaction. "Quite a sight, isn't it? Been my home for most of my life. Erica was on the run monsters in northern Texas, found me a bit south. She stayed at my house a few days, then we decided to cross the border, find others like us, and provide a safe place for them. She's got a big motherly instinct. At that time, she was seven, I was eight."

"So, we are in Mexico?"

"Yeah, in a bit of unexplored jungle. Erica and I found a set of twins, son and daughter of Demeter, near Mexico City, and they helped us build this place. Community Demi. It's grown tons since then, and now we have the fauns to find demigods that are loose in Mexico, southern US, and northern South America."

"Are the twins here?" Daniels expression choked.

"No. They got killed when a wandering fire-breathing hydra found the Community. We were lucky to have anything to put under a shroud, the hydra almost ate them."

"That's terrible! I'm sorry." Daniel shrugged.

"The best thing we can do in their memory is keep this place, the place they died protecting, safe and alive. We do that by taking in people like you and training them to take care of themselves."

"Hey, Daniel! Stop stalling and get down here! We all want to meet the new girl. Sarah, right? Hi! Come on, Danny!"

Under his breath, Daniel muttered: "Why does she call me that? I hate it." Out loud he shouted down:

"Yeah, yeah, Christy! Gotta give Encanter here a minute to absorb the sights." His face flushed, Daniel showed Sarah a little leather pouch with a loop of rope attached to it that was hanging from the top of the rope.

"This is a slider, or ascender, depending on which way you're going. What you are going to do is hold on to the loop; so long as your weight is pulling on the leather bit, it won't fall down. It makes climbing down and up ropes much easier. Think you can do that?" Sarah closed her eyes, concentrating on what her body was feeling. She was sore, tired, and fatigued, but she thought she could climb a rope with the help of the little leather contraption. Sarah nodded.

"Okay. I'll help you down."


	2. The Community

Community

The slider was easy to use. Sarah just slipped her wrist through the rope and let it take her weight. Amazingly, it didn't slip, even a little. The part where she actually went down the rope was a bit trickier. Bracing her sneakers against the rope, she arranged herself into the position she remembered from gym class. When she was sure she could support her own weight, she lifted her right hand and pulled the leather pouch down. Then Sarah lowered her legs and body and repeated the motion.

Within the first few yards, she had it down. Slowly, carefully, she made her way down about fifteen feet, encouraged by the whoops and shouts of the spectators below. With one final pull on the remarkable tool, Sarah swung her legs under herself, onto the ground. She looked up at Daniel, grinning. Daniel returned her smile and waved his hands in a clearing motion. Sarah felt hands and arms pull her back as the crowd made a wide circle around where the rope came down. Daniel pulled part of his belt off and wrapped it around his arm. Next, he removed one of his worn-out tennis shoes, grabbed a leather tube out of his pocket, and covered his ankle and lower shin with it. With both shoes on once again, Daniel clambered over the side of the nest, braced his left foot so that the rope was pushing into the leather covered part of his shin, and held on with one hand while he slid down like Robin Hood in about five seconds. Sarah's face froze, but she glared at him with all her mental might. Somehow, she got a feeling of a filter, taking out the petty jealousy and fear, leaving an interpretation of nervousness and caution.

Christy was obviously appalled.

"Danny, you show-off. Don't scare poor Sarah! Thinking you can't be perfect makes it so you can't be, you know that. Don't you worry, he's been doing that for years. It's not your fault he's a bit..." And on and on and on in a way that made Sarah wonder if she ever put a stopper in it. Daniel came over and patted Sarah on the back, making it obvious that she was with him, not Christy, using body language.

In a way so that only Sarah could hear him, he muttered to her: "She may be nice, but she's an absolute pain to work with. Try not to kill her, Encanter, that would be messy. You did well, for a first time of using a slider. Christy is right about one thing, I have been doing that for years, the rope bit, not the showing off. Ready to socialize? Well, ready or not, here we go." To the crowd at large, Daniel proclaimed:

"Sarah Encanter, half the camp. Half the camp, Sarah Encanter." He had certainly not invited them. "You've already met Christy Miner. Daughter of Vulcan, god of fire and crafts. Our best armor-smith. This is Alicia Sonnet, daughter of Athena, she's fairly new. And Elijah Hootley, son of Mercury, keep hold of your pockets and don't accept gifts from him. God of thieves, you know. And Jake, here, son of Janus, god of beginnings, endings, and decisions. Don't play poker with him. And Megan Brandonson, daughter of Fortuna, goddess of luck, stay on her good side. This is David, our head satyr." By the time she had met a third of the people, Sarah was ready to drop. With a quick glance at her drooping posture, Daniel waved away the pressing crowd.

"Alright, folks, show's over! Get back to your regular activities! Annie, don't think you can use this as an excuse to turn in that essay on war tactics of the Sioux tribes late!" As the crowd dispersed, Daniel put his hand on her shoulder and guided her in a different direction.

"How 'bout we go this way first?" Sarah relaxed once they were away from the bulk of the people, though she could still hear the whoops as someone went down a zip-line. In the to-do, she had forgotten that they were near the tops of the trees. Daniel was a good guide, pointing out the mess tree, where they had a hearty snack, the weapons and armor tree, and various cabins, one for each god or goddess. The ones for Demeter and Hekate were among the largest, most boisterous trees. Daniel explained that as soon as either they figured out who Sarah's godly parent was by her strengths and weaknesses or something happened called claiming, where the sign of the demigod in question's parent appeared above their head, she would move in with all her half-siblings, take classes with them, eat with them, and sleep in the same room as them. Some of the classes changed depending on which cabin you were in. Both the Apollo and Demeter trees had classes in Advanced Herbology. The Hekate tree, of course, did classes in magic, and the Hypnos and Morpheus(god of sleep and god of dreams, big difference, apparently) trees took classes in meditation, dreams, memories, and subconsciousness. But the basic classes were the same: Basic Weapons' Use, Greek and Latin, Beginners Agility, Hand-to-hand Combat, Mythology, and Basic Field Medicine. After the first few weeks of classes, you could focus your studies a bit more on what you need to know.

"But right now, I could use some more knowledge as to who you are," Daniel was obviously not going to tell her more about the Community unless she complied. Sarah shrugged.

"I don't know all that much, myself. When I was five, I wound up in an orphanage. Everyone else apparently, had known me since my teenage mother had dropped me off when I was a few weeks old. I had no memory from before then, my fifth birthday. I don't know who my father or mother is. It took a few tries, but I found a good foster home with a nice family, both parents and and an older sister. I am a straight-A student, especially in English and Spanish. Languages come easily, I was going to start German in the fall. I was having a normal day, when a man claiming to be the sheriff came into my class on a supposed tip of drug dealing. But he only had one eye. That's a cyclops, right?"

Daniel nodded. Encouraged, Sarah continued:

"Except for that, I know nothing else about who I am. I'm an English nerd, with no real family, no real friends: no one can really relate to me." Daniel cocked his head, thinking hard. It was an interesting gesture, upsetting the curls of his hair.

"Well, the orphanage bit, I get. One of your parents, I have no clue which, probably kept you for five years, if it was your mortal parent, you probably attracted so many monsters they didn't know what to do. But because you don't have memory of before that, I would guess your godly parent took it away from you, and bent the Mist, the magical substance that keeps mortals from seeing the mythological world, so that the people around you thought they had memories of you. That's why I would guess you were raised by your godly parent for those first years. Also, I would guess that your godly parent is your mother. If your godly blood was your dad, wouldn't your human mother want to keep you? Of course, that's all just guesswork. No way to tell for sure. For now. For the last few years, half-bloods have been being claimed way more often and quickly than before. When we first started this place, only about a fifth of the kids got claimed, and it was months before it happened. Now, most folks get claimed in under a week. We don't know what happened, or why but whatever it was we are all grateful for it. It's hard knowing that your mom or dad knows you are there, but doesn't want anyone to know. My grandmother tried hard to disguise the fact that we were related, but eventually, Ares made her tell him the truth."

"I was wondering," Sarah said curiously. "Do you ever get to meet your parents?" She was suddenly filled with a wanting she hadn't felt since her foster family had taken her in. Daniel's expression was a twist of anger, longing, and childish love. He quickly regained his composure.

"Sometimes. It's not always a good thing. If a mortal or half-blood sees a god in his or her true form, they are instantly killed. That power is too much for our brains to process. Even if you aren't killed at first sight, gods and goddesses often bring warnings and cryptic prophecies. They don't help, except for occasional gifts, Jupiter, Zeus, doesn't let them."

"Have you met Ares or Aphrodite?"

"Yes, I met my father, though in his Roman form, Mars. He and Jupiter, as well as many curious spectators, were very interested in why I was so powerful. I'm not a child of the Big Three, that is Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, or Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, yet I attracted as many monsters as one would. Hera herself examined me, it was her who figured out that my mother was a demigod. So yes, my father visited me. He was kind enough, rather gruff, but that's his nature. He's the god of war." Daniel looked sad. Sarah was sorry she had asked. But happy to know that she would soon know who at least one of her parents was. Daniel smiled, as if he could tell what she was feeling.

"Don't let my sob story get you down: it's not the worst one here. Lots of half-bloods have similar problems. Until you figure out who your godly parent is, you'll stay with the Hermes bunch, they are very friendly, but be glad you don't have any worldly possessions. Hermes, or Mercury, is the god of many things, including messages, traveling, and stealing. All unclaimed kids go to them first, if they are well enough to get out of the infirmary. If you aren't claimed, or something, at dinner, I'll take you through some basics tomorrow. We'll start with a light schedule: just Basic Weapons, Hand-to-hand, and Mythology for the first week, if you aren't claimed. Then you will join classes of your appropriate level for each thing. Okay?" Sarah felt a sense of finality that if she nodded, she wouldn't be able to go back on that one tiny motion.

"Got it."

The Hermes tree was spread out and noisy, with extra houses on the largest branches to make more room. There was a safety net strongly attached to the lowest branches, and the tree itself was fairly short(comparatively). Couldn't hurt in a place where everyone is playing practical jokes on everyone else, Sarah thought. Daniel rolled his eyes at a set of what looked like triplets who were hanging upside-down from a branch like bats and wolf-whistling at the two of them. Sarah carefully set her face to a blank, and her mind as well, willing herself not to blush. As they walked past, Daniel cleared his throat:

"So, you'll be staying in one of the little huts-on-a-branch. I think the one Mitch, the tree-leader, set up for you only has one other occupant. Be warned, she's a bit—fractured—at the moment."

"What do you mean? Did she fall?" Daniel smiled a bit at that remark.

"No, she had an encounter with a god, we think. She—her mind didn't handle it well. We don't know who she saw, or where her Olympian blood comes from, mostly because we can't understand anything she says. Maybe a word or two in English, or Greek, or Latin, but mostly odd sounds. Her name's Kaela." Sarah could deal with creepy roommates. She'd had them before, at foster homes, at the orphanage. You just had to try to stay out of the way.

_I want a very long nights' sleep right now, _Sarah thought grimly. _A _very _long nights' sleep. On a nice soft bed with fluffy pillows, a cup of hot chocolate in my tummy, a nice book... _Some startlingly shrill bird calls interrupted her day-dreaming. A girl, frizzy-haired and wild-eyed, practically flew out of one of the huts on Sarah and Daniel's right. She was making clicking noises with furious intensity, then switched to whistles again. She slowed to a walk, and approached the pair. _I can see what Daniel meant by fractured. She's driving herself into a tizzy trying to be heard! Kaela is certainly going to be an interesting roommate. _

Several fast sentences in something that might have been an African language followed. More clicks and chirps. Some small, desperate wails. More rapid-fire words, switching languages multiple times during the paragraph. Suddenly, Kaela grabbed Sarah's hands, and said, in a voice that knew the importance of saying it correctly:

"Come. Come, oojhali hillingji-bi-unga. Come."

Sarah smiled at Daniel as she obliged Kaela, walking quickly to keep up with Kaela's insistent, darting steps. Daniel smiled back, waved, and called after her:

"See you at dinner if you're up to it!"

"I don't think so, all I want right now is a few days of sleep," Sarah responded as she was dragged through the doorway. She saw a couple of mischievous-looking boys running up to him, most likely bringing complaints.

Kaela seemed happy and excited with her new hut-mate. She chattered in unknown languages, rummaging through a trunk at the end of her bed. The room was set up with all the basics: two beds, only one of which had sheets on it, the other one had a pile of folded bedclothes on top, a chest at the foot of each to hold possessions, and a simple desk and chair near the single wide, thin window facing out to the rest of the Community. Kaela showed Sarah her large collection of throwing knives, many of which were carved with strange symbols and pictures, a pair of black leather boots, which had a button on the side that made blades come out of the toe and heel, and a hair tie that expanded into a thin metal helmet. Sarah wondered where she got all the magic items. Kaela pointed to her chest animatedly, then whipped her strawberry blonde hair around to face the foot of what was now Sarah's bed. She tapped Sarah's shoulder twice, then ran over to the left side of the hut, gesturing at the unadorned box. Sarah's breath caught as she noticed that every wooden surface on Kaela's side had been entirely covered in careful writing and pictures. The floor, walls, even the ceiling were ornately etched. Not even the bedposts had been spared. An exasperated huff exploded from Sarah's left side. She turned quickly and hurried over to Kaela, who seemed near tears for some reason.

_She must really want me to see if there's anything in the box, _Sarah thought apologetically. _Okay, no harm in that. I just have to remember to pay close attention to what Kaela tries to say. _Sarah slowly lifted the top and leaned it against the foot of the bed. Inside was some interesting stuff. Right on top was a bundle of clothes, kept together with a plain, sturdy leather belt. Jeans, with an adjustable elastic waistband, and a row of buttons on the bottom to fit the hemline. A plain, size medium, t-shirt, made of natural colored cotton. Next out of the chest was a pair of leather shoes that looked something like moccasins, but made with only one piece of material. A belt pouch was what caught Sarah's eye next. She opened it to find a mini-thermos of amber-colored liquid, and a plastic container of ambrosia. Sarah suspected the liquid was nectar. She felt a strong temptation to drink some now, when her head snapped to the side, her cheek stinging. She looked over, flushing, at Kaela solemnly shaking her head, then puffing her cheeks and making explosion gestures with her hands.

_Right. Daniel told me that. I should be grateful she stopped me; I've already had two big squares of ambrosia. _Sarah smiled, sheepishly.

"I am sorry," she said to Kaela. "Thank you for your concern. You are right, I should not ingest any more of this for a while." Kaela nodded, still serious. With a sudden smile, she waved at the chest again. Gratefully, Sarah pulled out tons more supplies, including a graph notepad, a small backpack, a thin rain jacket, and a small dagger in a plain leather scabbard, around four inches long, the hilt molded into the shape of a pile of defeated monsters, the cross-guard etched with the faces of what Sarah assumed were demigods. The only ones with more than their heads showing were a pair of people, a boy and a girl, dressed in loose shirts, the girl in a grass skirt, the boy in stiff trousers.

_The twins. _Sarah silently gave her thanks to the people who had obviously given their lives so that people like her could find safety and strength. She commended them to the Olympians, asking Hades to give them every joy the hero's could want. It felt natural, this asking.

Now the box was empty. Sarah couldn't think of anything else to do, so she changed into the clothes. She had to tighten the elastic on the pants, and raise the hem almost six inches. All of the clothes were soft and comfortable, even the boots, which, once on her, had shrunk to fit the shape of her feet perfectly. It was like being barefoot, but with an extra layer of protection, so rocks and such wouldn't hurt her. Kaela kindly turned her back to Sarah, muttering frenziedly the whole time. Sarah smiled to herself gratefully at the gesture. She didn't know why but dressing in front of people scared her. Once she'd adjusted everything, Sarah told Kaela she was done. Kaela turned around, smiled, made a girly hand-over-her-mouth gesture, and spoke louder.

Sarah didn't understand the words. She couldn't tell you later what they sounded like. But as soon as the phrase was complete, the meaning came to her.

"They suit you." Sarah responded without thinking:

"Thank you. They are very nice."

"The Community works hard to help new people fit in. Are you about ready to go to dinner?"

"I think I'm just going to go to sleep. Thanks anyways, though. And I was wondering earli—" Sarah realized what she was saying and stopped. Kaela froze as well.

"What just happened?" Sarah asked, frantically. "I thought you couldn't consciously speak a language. Are you suddenly better?" Kaela responded. But with un-human sounds. Words in lost languages. Clicks and bird whistles. No words. Not in English, anyway. A single, glistening tear rolled slowly from Kaela's eye. Made it's way over the hill of her cheek, through the crater beside her nose, down to the very edge of her lip. Sarah stared at the small drop of moisture. She found herself muttering words from the earliest part of her memory:

"_The taste of a tear._

_The smell of the fear._

_A loved one in danger,_

_or asleep in a manger._

_Never will you know_

_how to make the fear go._

_Open the flood gates, _

_this magic predates_

_everything else._

_Tears are the jewels,_

_bound to the earth._

_A potion of laughter,_

_beauty, and mirth." _

Kaela stared. She opened her mouth and licked her lips. A smile poured over her face, one of relief and gratitude. She tipped her head towards the door, then walked outside, not looking to see if she was followed. Sarah took a deep breath and peeked out the door, surprised to see that Daniel was still there, deep in an argument with an older boy, who kept on gesturing towards a cute little boy of about nine.

"Look, Mitch, I'm sorry you're having trouble," Daniel said with finality. "But this is completely a tree feud. I can't punish someone on something that doesn't concern the entire Community. If your having problems controlling your siblings, that's between you and them. If someone wants to challenge you, they have very right. That's just how it is." Sarah was impressed with his diplomacy. The older boy—Mitch—looked like a very ripe tomato at this point, and pointed to his shins, where, Sarah noticed, the pants completely burned off. Daniel and Mitch noticed she was watching. Mitch's pointy, upturned features scrunched.

"Of course. You'd rather listen to newbie sob stories. 'Oh, I don't know who my mom or dad is, woe is me.' I get it. Well, see you." To the younger boy, obviously the culprit who set fire to Mitch's jeans, Mitch growled:

"Come on. We are going to have a chat. In the rigging-bowl. Short swords. Wooden shields. Now." The poor guy was exactly the opposite of Mr. Tomato Face, his face a sickly yellow-white. Sarah smirked at Mitch, and as he stormed gave the little guy a wink. She mouthed "I don't blame you. Good luck." and went to talk to Daniel.

"Didn't expect to see you still here," she said. Daniel sighed, then took a stone from his back pocket and a knife from his belt and started sharpening the edge.

"Didn't expect to still be here. I see you found your basics?"

"Yup," Sarah confirmed with a smile. "You people thought of everything. I have a few more questions that I though of while I was in my cabin. Obviously, I couldn't ask Kaela, so, do you mind?" Daniel quickly shook his head, starting to relax a bit, leaning on the railing on the edge of the walk.

"How did you get your sword?"

"Well, I got _this_ particular blade with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Literally. But I assume you mean, how will you get a sword? I'll take you to the armory tomorrow and I'll show you how to use the usual stuff. Bow and arrows, short sword, long sword, spear, knife. Then we'll find out what weapon suits you best. You never know, some people do well with the weirdest things. One of the daughters of Nemesis is deadly accurate with a set of nunchaku we made specially with Celestial bronze caps and chain. Monsters and immortals can only be harmed with certain metals or materials. The two most common are Celestial bronze for Greeks and Imperial gold for Romans. The few sons and daughters of Hades and Pluto that I've met often prefer an interesting metal called Stygian iron. It has to be cooled in the waters of the river Styx," here some thunder rolled. "the first time it is developed. I've never seen any others, but there are many rumors about weapons made from copper, tin, and silver as well.

"You can learn all this later, though. Right now, and for the next few days, you need to take it easy, don't strain yourself while you're healing. Write down all your questions and bring them to your classes tomorrow. Now go on. Off to bed." A playful shove and some silly shooing motions followed. Just as Sarah was about to head in, she turned back, an interestingly pained expression on her face.

"Daniel? I just have one more question that needs answering now..."

"Yeah?"

"How do you go to the bathroom up here? Does it just go splat?" Daniel grinned. Sarah blushed a little bit at the immature potty humor.

"We have a plumbing system, designed by Christy. Weird, I know, that someone so bubbly would dabble," Daniel flinched at the bad wording. "Um... work on something like that. You can ask Kaela for directions, she can still point alright." Sarah frowned slightly, wondering if she should tell him what had happened earlier. She decided not to, that was just to weird, and oddly personal. As she went back inside and got ready to bed, stowing her things in the trunk, Sarah thought long and hard about the events that had occurred.

_Ah, well. Let's go to sleep. This sure has been an weird day. A demigod settlement, high in the treetops of a Mexican jungle. A roommate who can't communicate very well. Karen, Erica, and Daniel, new __friends, I think. Learning how to kill monsters with swords and bows and such. Tomorrow is going interesting. _


End file.
